Finally News

Precious little came out today’s news conference with John York, Mike Nolan and new general manager Scot McCloughan other than the expected. Here’s a run down:

-McCloughan has been promoted to the general manager posistion and with that, he has authority over the roster and hiring and firing of the head coach. He’ll report to ownership and he has a new five-year deal/extension.

-Nolan remains as head coach and retains his authortiy over the coaching staff, including the hiring of the next offensive coordinator.

-As you can surmise, offensive coordinator Mike Hostler has been fired.

-Nolan said members of the offensive staff will remain, but wouldn’t say who would keep their jobs. Nolan said he has a list of candidates but he didn’t talk about specific names.

-Nolan would prefer the next OC to have experience, fueling speculation that Mike Martz or Brian Billick will be interviewed.

-John York said the promotion of McCloughan was in the works when he was hired three years ago as the vice president of player personnel. At that time, York was adamant in saying that a structure with a head coach/general manager was still viable.

-McCloughan said he wouldn’t spend as much money as last season on free agents.

-Defensive tackle Isaac Sopoaga, one of the team’s few unrestricted free agents, said he wants to return to the team. “I had a meeting with Mike Nolan and he said he wants me back,” Sopoaga said. Sopoaga plans to dicuss contract with his agent tonight.

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Nolan said he wasn’t disappointed by this move, and that he’s excited for next season.